International

On Thursday, the Council of Europe received King Willem Alexander in Strasbourg. The King was invited to the Palace of Europe to address the Parliamentary Assembly. Tiny Kox, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, received the King in his office in the morning. They talked about the MH17 disaster debate that was to take place that day. Some relatives of victims of the MH17 disaster were present at the debate. They too were received in the morning by Kox, where they talked about the realisation and consequences of the report.

In his opening speech of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe summer session, President and SP-Senator Tiny Kox invited members to hold a minute of silence for all the victims of the war in Ukraine, urging them to help end the suffering of the Ukrainian people and to continue showing solidarity.

More and more people are having trouble paying their bills. Even as costs rise, our salaries, benefits and OAP pension have been falling behind for years. Grocery shopping, gas and electric, filling up the tank, rent, everything is becoming more and more expensive, which has led to an increasing number of people having problems.

In a statement on the 100th day of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, SP-senator and President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Tiny Kox has again called on the Russian authorities to immediately bring the war to an end and issued a strong appeal for the restoration of peace with justice.

The billions that the government has made available for defence can be put to better use,' says SP MP Jasper van Dijk in response to Minister Ollongren's defence memorandum. Higher wages for personnel are justified, but the government has gone completely overboard. More than five billion extra comes down to an increase of the defence budget by forty percent. This is mostly a party for the arms industry.

A special procedure is needed to review the placing in foster care of children who are victims of the benefits scandal. And parents in the benefits scandal who ask for a review of the decision to place their child in foster care must have a decision within six months - and preferably sooner - as to whether this is correct.

We cannot accept Russia's aggression against Ukraine. But we must make sure that the war does not last a day longer than necessary. It has been the third month of Putin's despicable war against Ukraine, and there is no end in sight.

This week, Osman Kavala, a political prisoner in Turkey, was sentenced to life imprisonment on the basis of false and fabricated accusations. This is a disgrace. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Kavala, who has been imprisoned by the Turkish authorities for five years, is in illegal detention. Turkey's failure to respect this binding decision of the European Court of Human Rights is a disgrace to human rights and democratic values. As a result, the Council of Europe is considering terminating Turkey's membership.

The failure to tackle Russian oligarchs effectively is not accidental, but a consequence of a system that pampers oligarchs. What we need is not Stef Blok, but a change of system.